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[Question] Alien Appearance in Xenonauts 2


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First of all, I really liked the first Xenonauts Game and I was super excited when the second Game got announced, with 3d-Graphics, more Gameplay options and all the good Stuff.

But then I discovered this :https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2016_11/aliens.png.cf559860de64a90006dba0b5cc5eab35.png

 

What i like about Xenonauts compared to newer XCOM Titles is how the Aliens look. In my opinion the Aliens in XCOM looked a bit cheap and ridiculous, which made the Games almost comical and less enjoyable. So I was sad to see that the design of the Aliens in X2 is heading in this direction. Especially the Ceasan and the Wraith looked much better in X1.

My Question is: Is this the final Appearance of the Aliens in X2 or will there be changes to preserve the old style?

 

 

ceasan.png

Edited by Tan Nirali
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I don't understand. The 3D one looks less comical to me simply because it's actually more alien looking. The other is a five fingered human with grey skin, big eyes, and a weird head. It also looks like they're wearing cotton-spandex to a certain extent and even have a belt. 3D alien has this insectoid look to it that, even though weirdly has fingernails, clearly has non-human hips, mouth(s), and cartilage armor beneath their skin.

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As Apollo said, when the game is up, many people joked about caesans about big eyes with jeans.. I don't have a problem with them as i see them an alien from Star Trek Universe, more human style.. but for an XCom you need to picture them more evil more extressial. A caesan model is just our grey, little, big head/ big eyes enemies.. it's a classic.. so you should not make it so "human" then it loses it's magic.. Our new caesan here is more modern touch of that grey ones. Here you can see that, they are more "soldier" types as they seems much more stronger and ready for battle rather than a brain guy.. I like it..

My only problem with the new aliens, they are so humanoid.. even androns are humanoid.. reaper is a humanoid with blades with with more scary eyes.. i would like to see more ski-fi, creature type aliens at enemy arsenal.. as we won't have bigger enemies, we will stick to those.. they don't make a react "wtf" when i see them.. We will see..

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It's not that I have a problem with less humanoid looking aliens and more that i don't like the 3d one that much. It somehow reminds me of a chicken with a human skull on top, and really weird hips. And I know that the big head and eyes alien is a classic, but it's also an overused stereotype in my opinion and the X1 Ceasan looks less like it than the 3d one.

There are also great examples of non human looking aliens like the Elites from Halo, they don't look comical and more like a warrior. But when I look at the 3d Alien in the picture, i don't see a warrior, it doesn't fit somehow, but that's just my personal taste. 

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6 hours ago, jevry said:

i mostly dislike the huge chest the new version has. i would love it if it wasn't for that ridiculous chest

Yes, exactly, if they would remove the huge chest and "fix" the hips (I don't know what's exactly wrong with them, but it looks weird), that would resolve 60% of the problems I have with this design.

8 hours ago, ApolloZani said:

Well.. Yes. The ceasans are not supposed to be warriors. They're not made for that. They're rarely equipped for that.

But they were the most common enemy in X1 and even the Xenopedia says they are a "superior approximation to a human Soldier".

Regarding what drages wrote, I think the Andron could be a four legged Robot, like Orisa from Overwatch or the Macron from Quake4. I know this is quite a stretch lore wise, but it would be worth it in my opinion, it would look so much more intimidating.

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34 minutes ago, Tan Nirali said:

Yes, exactly, if they would remove the huge chest and "fix" the hips (I don't know what's exactly wrong with them, but it looks weird), that would resolve 60% of the problems I have with this design.

I respect, but the problem starts here. I mean that huge chest and "fix" would turn it to a little human with bigger head.. 

Those are the warrior caesans probably, we did not see other versions.

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I think Xenonauts is more serious than new XCOM and I liked it. And so did many others because X's audience is statistically older than average modern players. Classic X-COM fans and veterans being among them. Firaxis' XCOM audience, on the other hand, are those younger players and they are the target market for the new series. Thus, X2 shouldn't aim at the same market, whether it's about design, lore or graphics. X2 has it's own market niche and it would be better not to forget about those classic X-COM fans who are a part of that niche. Otherwise it would need to take way some of the new XCOM audience. And that is very unlikely.

By the way, I liked aliens in Unreal games. At least some of the models. They looked alien but humanoid enough to handle tools (and weapons) comfortably.

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21 hours ago, drages said:

I respect, but the problem starts here. I mean that huge chest and "fix" would turn it to a little human with bigger head.. 

Those are the warrior caesans probably, we did not see other versions.

hey i am fine with it not looking humanoid, but at leats make them look acceptebly intimidating, not from a kid's tv show.

https://www.google.nl/search?q=fallout+zetans&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=Yy242G9AYyDWlM%3A%2Chi87PuKbW7MFOM%2C_&usg=AFrqEzdXUYxUIU2XlKnYohwe_3cmlzXt3Q&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwishvPM-9jcAhUPEVAKHb_CB6QQ9QEwA3oECAQQBA#imgrc=Yy242G9AYyDWlM:

see here, a zetan. an alien just like ours, exept this one didn't hide a balloon under his shirt to make him look strong

 

the same cute-ness is going on with the sebilian imo. un-de-evolve the tail and add back some spikes and it look like an evil mean monster again, now atm its tail looks like its from a poodle and the sebilian is an infant

 

another issue i actually take is that they look really short, im not saying they are short, they look short. in the way someone can look really short but still actually be taller than you, short

Edited by jevry
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I agree with jevry and Ravn7, the devs should make the Aliens in X2 more serious and intimidating than the 3d Alien in the picture. Not humanoid is fine, but please not XCOM:EU-Sectoid-level silly.

I still think there is a compromise between the 3d Ceasan and the various examples of more serious Aliens mentioned in this thread. I would draw one, if my drawing skills were not that awful.

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I very much doubt at this point that more money is going to be spent to change alien designs without better criticism of the design. Surface-level criticisms such as "silly" or "bad" are not going to make the cut. jervy's criticisms on particular body parts is far better detailed... but you have to not only object, but make reasons that the objections are valid and why Goldhawk Interactive should spend that Kickstarter money on redesigns rather than spend it on more time adding new content.  

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On 8/6/2018 at 10:33 PM, Max_Caine said:

[...]but you have to not only object, but make reasons that the objections are valid[...]

I disagree, simply because it's from an arts perspective and nothing of technical character. Art and style are always subjective and that's the reason my initial criticism was... let's say vague, to encourage a discussion about it and maybe get to a compromise.

However, i agree, that Goldhawk should spend their money on developing new game features and ensuring the game run stable and is fun to play, than redesigning units. I rather play a game, with one piece of artwork, i'm not entirely happy with, than a game, which is not fun to play and plagued by bugs.

 

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It's unlikely we'll be revising the designs of the aliens significantly, other than creating new variants of the existing ones with additional armour etc. In an ideal world everyone would like the designs for the aliens we make, but art direction is quite subjective and therefore it's difficult to "fix". That's quite an old image though, and there have been a few tweaks since - the Sebillian armour is less purple now, for example.

The reason these changes were made is because the original Xenonauts was (rightly) criticised for having aliens that did not look particularly alien and all looked very similar to one another. That's because they were all humanoids with similar proportions and only slightly different appearances. This is problematic for the player in gameplay terms - e.g. if it's not immediately obvious that an Andron is a robot, the player won't know that trying to suppress it is a bad idea - but it also just makes the game less atmospheric. Hence our new designs being a bit more obviously different from one another ... but this does come at the cost of our aliens being less realistic than before.

The Firaxis XCOM is not a very helpful point of comparison here though, as we were making a spiritual successor to the original X-Com from 1994. The aliens in that were weird as hell - the Sectoids have MASSIVE heads, the Ethereals are just floating orange robes, there's even just a floating pink kidney as one of the aliens. Strange looking aliens have been an expected feature of the genre since well become Firaxis made the first XCOM.

(EDIT - ignore me, the little Psyon is in the original image.)

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